1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a battery arrangement and to a method for cooling a battery in a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A battery for use in motor vehicles, in particular in motor vehicles having a hybrid drive or in fuel cell vehicles, usually has a cell block comprising a plurality of battery cells or lithium ion cells that are connected electrically in series and/or in parallel. The battery cells have to be cooled to discharge waste heat that is produced during operation of the battery. The respective pole contacts, called terminals in the following text, of the individual battery cells usually are heated to a particularly pronounced extent during operation of the battery.
DE 10 2009 035 465 describes a cooling apparatus that is connected thermally to the battery cells to cool the battery cells. Head cooling arranges the cooling apparatus on a side of the battery cells on which the electric pole contacts of the individual cells are situated and connected to one another in pairs by cell connectors in an electrically conducting manner.
Indirect cooling by a cooling liquid uses an evaporating refrigerant, such as R134a or CO2. Direct cooling uses a liquid that is temperature-controlled via a chiller of an air conditioning system and guides pre-cooled air between the individual cells.
DE 1 000 374 C1 discloses a thermally conducting plate arranged on a cell assembly of a battery. Cooling liquid flows through the thermally conducting plate.
DE 10 2009 035 465 A1 discloses a battery having a plurality of individual cells with cell connectors arranged on the pole side of the individual cells. The individual cells are connected electrically to one another by the cell connectors. Furthermore, the cell connectors are arranged a cell connector circuit board. A cooling channel structure is integrated into the cell connector circuit board and a thermally conducting medium can flow through the cooling channel structure. The cell connectors are connected to the cell connector circuit board in a thermally conducting manner. The individual cells of the battery can therefore be cooled via the cell connectors, via the cooling channel structure.
Against the background of the prior art, it is an object of the invention to provide an option of efficiently cooling the battery, its battery cells and the terminals of the battery cells without increased installation space.